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Genecen­tres – Major Areas of Plant Domestication

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A significant contribution to the modern knowledge of the main cen­tres of origin of cultivated plants has been made by Vavilov (1949) — a Russian bio-geographer. His researches, based on field investiga­tions and archaeological findings, indicate the main areas of domesti­cation of plants and animals. These areas form the primary breeding culture. Accumulated evidence since Vavilov’s time has suggested the following eight major genecentres. A genecentre is a geographi­cal locale of wild ancestors of the modern cultivated plants (Fig. 2.4).

The domi­nant cereals were emmer and einkorn wheat, spelt and barley—all of which are the members of the grass (gramineae) family. The most common pulses which were domesticated in this region include lentil (lens culinaris) and peas (pisum sativum). Moreover, chickpea, broadbean, melon and several vegetables were also part of arable economy. Flax was also domesticated in this region as it is also found being deposited in the neolithic deposits.

The experts of history of agriculture have unanimity of opinion about Southwest Asia as the oldest and leading genecentre in the world. They also opine that by about 10000 BC people who relied upon hunting and gathering were reaping wild barley and wild wheat.

About 6000 BC, there seem to have been both farming villages and nomadic camping sites, probably with trade and other concentrations in them. It has been estimated that Ur, a large town of Mesopotamia, covering about 50 acres (20 hectares) within a cultivated tract, there were 10,000 animals confined in sheepfolds and stables. The work­force included store house recorders, work foremen, harvest supervi­sors and labourers (Fig.2.2).

In the early Sumerian dynastic phase (3000 BC) barley was the main crop, but wheat, flax, dates, apples, plums, grapes and vegeta­bles were also grown. The land used to be ploughed by teams of oxen and the crops were harvested with sickle in the spring (Fig. 2.5).

Development of irrigation in the Nile valley came as a major ag­ricultural development. Irrigation gave more stability to the agrarian- cum-pastoral economy of Egypt. There are ample evidences which Suggest that the water of Nile river was carefully controlled and canal distributaries were dug to provide irrigation to the cultivated crops whenever needed.

Apart from Palestine, Canaan, Sumeria and Egypt there are evi­dences which show the development of settled communities living in villages in Anatolia (Turkey), Syria, valleys of Tigris and Euphrates, and the Zagros mountains of Iraq and Iran. These village com­munities were growing wheat, barley, flax, peas and lentil by 6000 BC. Subsequently, the number of domesticated plants got increased in these areas. Some of the important vegetables like cabbage, leek, lettuce, onion, garlic and beans also have their origin in the South­west Asian Genecentre.

According to Zohary (1986), the wild ancestors of most of these early crops exhibited a relatively limited distribution. Wild emmer wheat and chickpea are endemic to Southwest Asia, while wild eink­orn wheat, barley, vetch and peas have a wider distribution in the re­gion. Subsequently, these crops were diffused in Europe, and other parts of Asia and Northern Africa.

The earliest farmers of Southwest Asia had reaping knives, sick­les, grain storing pits, mortars, pestles and grinding stones. They probably also had digging sticks and later primitive hoes, made at first from wood and later from stones. The most important change was the slow adoption of ox-drawn plough.

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This plough invented by the Sumerians and Anatolians was made of wood called ‘Ards’ which did little more than scratch the surface of the earth. By 4000 BC this plough (Ard) was diffused in Mesopotamia and the Nile val­ley. In Egypt, water lifting devices such as shaduf, water wheel and carads were started by 1000 BC. From here these technological de­velopments spread to the neighbouring areas of the east and the west.

According to Zohary and Hopf (1988) rice is a southeast Asiatic element but because of the ease with which its wild relatives hybrid­ize, the exact centre of its domestication has not yet been determined. The earliest finds of rice that can be positively identified as domesti­cated are from sites in India and Pakistan, dated about 4500 BP.

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In the opinion of Sauer, the Southeast Asian Genecentre is one of the oldest genecentres of the world. The earliest archaeological evi­dence available from the Spirit Cave of Thailand shows that legumes were domesticated in this region around 9000 BC (Fig.2.4). The farming system was found in the valley floors and deltas. From Thai­land it spread towards Malaysian, Indonesian and Polynesian Islands.

Very little is known about the technology and methods of farming in the Southeast Asian Genecentre. It is likely to have been primitive, relaying upon stone axes, digging sticks and fire. Besides vegeculture (protection of plants) and cultivation of crops, the people of South­east Asia mainly relied on hunting, gathering and fishing for much of their supplies.

3. The China-Japan Genecentre:

Archaeological information about this genecentre is comparatively scanty. The first known farmers in northern China lived in the Loess uplands of the Middle Hwang Ho and the Wei Ho between 6000 BC and 5000 BC. These farmers domesticated soya-bean, kaoliang (sorghum), millet, corn, sweet-potatoes, barley, peanuts, fruits and vegetables.

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Cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, tea and sericulture (silk­worm) have been the important cash crops (Fig.2.6). From the Loess plateau, agriculture spread towards Manchuria, Korea and Japan in the north and towards the Yangtze Kiang valley in the south. There are reasons to believe that in China, most probably, wheat, barley, sheep, goats and cattle were acquired from the Southwest Asia, whilst soya-bean, kaoliang, mulberry and pig were locally domesti­cated (Fig.2.6).

It is also most likely that the practice of irrigation spread to China from Babylonia. The Chinese are known to have had irrigation before 2200 BC. The main implements were digging sticks, hoes, spades and mortars. The plough was also acquired from Southwest Asia. For the maintenance of soil fertility a number of practices were adopted in China by 5000 BC. The main aim of the farmers was most probably conservation of moisture rather than irrigation.

4. The Central Asian Genecentre:

The Central Asian Genecentre of Vavilov includes the region sprawl­ing over Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kirigizis- tan, Turkmenistan and the area lying to west of the Tien Shan. To the east of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan an agricultural community grew between 4000 BC and 3000 BC.

These farmers were doing cul­tivation of crops with the help of irrigation. They adopted mixed ag­riculture, based on a combination of crops and livestock which char­acterized to that of Mesopotamia. Peas, flax, alfafa, almond, walnut, pistachio, grapes, melons, carrots, onion, garlic, radish, spinach, ber­ries and numerous fruits were domesticated in this genecentre (Fig.2.4).

5. The Mediterranean Genecentre:

The Mediterranean Genecentre extends from the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) in the west to Greece in the east. It also includes the coastal strips of Africa along the Mediterranean Sea. Domestica­tion of plants and animals in this genecentre occurred mainly in the coastal areas of Spain, France, Italy, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia (Yugoslavia), Crete and Cyprus (Fig.2.4).

Primarily it is the genecentre of oats, flax, olive, figs, vines, ruta­bagas, lupines, oak, and lavender. By 4000 BC, the crops of the Mediterranean region much of its distinctive crops, e.g., olive, vine and fig had been domesticated in the eastern parts of the Mediterra­nean lands. Vegetables which have their origin in this genecentre are atrichokas, asparagus, cabbage, celery, chicory, olive, cress, endive, leek, lettuce, onion, garlic, parsnip, peas, and beans.

6. The African Genecentre:

The Nile valley (Egypt), being close to the Southwest Asian Gene­centre, derived agriculture from this region. The archaeological evi­dences obtained from the site of al-Fayyum (Lower Nile Basin) show that sheep, goats, and swine and cultivated wheat, barley, cotton and flax were cultivated in this region in 5000 BC.

The flax was woven into linen and cotton used for the preparation of cloth. In this dry cli­mate, village silos consisted of pits lined with coiled basketry, and crops were harvested with reaping knives slotted with sharp flints. The farming communities of Egypt started agriculture initially above the flood plains as in the valley of the Nile river regular inundation was the main hindrance.

The Egyptian farmers also kept deer, gazelles, sheep, goats and livestock. The wetter areas were exploited by domesticated ducks and geese. The marshes, swamps, wasteland and stubbles were grazed by numerous herds of cattle (black, piebald and white) sheep with kempy (coarse) coats, goats and pigs.

The origin of agriculture to the south of Sahara is still a matter of controversy. In Ethiopia and the west coast of Africa, vegeculture most probably developed along the margins of tropical forests and savanna lands where climate was warm and wet. The major plants domesticated in tropical Africa are Yam (indigenous to West Africa), and oil-palm trees. West Africa, in fact, still remains as one of the few areas of the world where root crops form a major part of agricul­tural economy. Tropical Africa is also the primary genecentre of sor­ghum, African rice, castor beans, cotton, water-melon, cowpea, cof­fee, oil-palm, and kolanut.

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7. The South American Genecentre:

This genecentre extends over Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Equador, Argen­tina and Chile. It is conjectured that in South America, domestication of plants in the form of vegeculture started sometimes between 7000 BC and 3000 BC. Here, the first domesticated plants of tuberous spe­cies like the manioc, arrowroots, water nuts, sweet potatoes, yautia, sorrel, ulluco, ochira, beans, tuber and squash were vegetatively propagated. These species are rich in starch. Later peanuts, ground­nuts, and pineapple were also domesticated in this genecentre.

In Bo­livia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, vegetables like lima beans, potato, pumpkin and tomato were domesticated. Axe and digging sticks were the main equipment’s of the prehistoric farming societies of the South America. Slash and burn, irrigation, terracing, and the use of llama dung for manure were practiced. The guanaco, ancestor of llama and alpaca was domesticated in this region around 2500 BC.

8. The Central American Genecentre:

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This genecentre spreads over the area of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El-Salvador and Panama. Available evi­dence seems to indicate that, in spite of the early domestication of some plants, village life did not begin to develop in this region until 3500 BC.

The process of agricultural development was, therefore, rather slow, occurring in widely dispersed centres. Corn (maize), cocao, tomatoes, avocados, potatoes, kidney bean, zapotes, pumpkin and cotton were domesticated in this region. It is also the homeland of red pepper, bean, sunflower and tobacco. In this region, the land was cleared by chopping and burning and the seeds were sown with the aid of fire-hardened digging sticks. Crops were stored in pits or granaries.

Apart from the genecentres discussed, some of the experts con­sider the Indus valley as separate genecentre (Fig.2.7). The most im­portant plant domesticated in the Indian subcontinent was rice (oryza sativa), the staple food of South Asia and Southeast Asia. Sugarcane, varieties of legumes and mango are also native to the subcontinent of India.

The excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (Indus valley), Lothal on the Gulf of Cambay provide adequate evidences which show that the farmers of these regions were using sophisticated agricultural and pastoral technology as early as 3000 BC. Irrigation to the crops was also a common practice in several suitable locations of the Indus valley.

The primitive communities of the Neolithic period domesticated plants for food, legumes, tubers, fruits, fibres and luxury crops. A classification of the plants cultivated in the early parts of human his­tory has been given in Table 2.2.

As discussed in the preceding paras the entrance of mankind from hunting and gathering culture to agriculture was not radical but gradual and evolutionary. The Figure 2.8 shows the evolutionary stages of man’s cultural development during the Paleolithic period to the Bronze Age, while Table 2.3 gives an idea about the type of economy and culture of those periods.